Tranmere 2 - 1 Hereford

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

First half was an enjoyable outing on a beautiful sunny day. Support in good voice and a great performance on the pitch from the lads, including some well worked goals and we're in 2-0 up at half time.

Second half was utter dross. Hereford hadn't turned up first half and sadly in the second half neither did we. They were rubbish and instead of kicking on and trying to get a third to kill them we sat back and didn't even look interested in getting forward.

For which we were nearly very seriously punished. Danny Coyne made one hell of a save to keep them out in their first dangerous attack of the game, after Ian Goodison had gifted the ball to them. Goodison let the ball pass through his legs, thinking a Tranmere player was there to sweep up and in fact it was a Hereford forward who snapped up the gift and but for Danny's full stretch save that would have been a goal.

Then after one of our passing phases went aimless and broke down, Goodison flies in two footed on the halfway line, when no danger whatsoever - one of the stupidiest tackles ever. Looked like a 17 year old centre forward's tackle.... mis-timed and well just terrible really. Straight red and there can be no arguments.

So the stands turning into a library, our players deflated and down to ten men. Thoughts of Leeds away without a first team centre back... and we give away a soft penalty. I don't think there could have been much contact and certainly their player threw himself down... but it was given and scored. 2-1 and we've lost the second half 0-1. Felt like a defeat at the final whistle.

But for Danny's save we would have drawn 2-2 and been out of the running for the play-offs. But for Ian's stupidity we could have won by more and done our goal difference some good.

I'm going to have to stop there for now, I'm just so cross at Goodison. Stupid man.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Excellent summary. Saves me the bother of writing, it's exactly as I saw it too.

Only thing I would disagree with is that even during that pathetic effort of a second half we still made enough chances to score more goals.

Hereford are woeful, Conference standard. We made them look good in the last 20 minutes.

Only players to get pass marks over the WHOLE 90 minutes were Chorley, Coyne and Savage. How we needed Curran or Gornell in that second half.....

Final thing. The crowd. One foot in the play-offs and the Wirral public stay away. Fewer than 6000. Now that's really pathetic!

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Got to say we did OK (nothing more) in the first half against what is a dreadful Hereford side. The defence however looked all over the place throughout and Goodison was extremely lucky not to have given away a penalty in the first half for a hand ball in the box that wasn't spotted.

Fortunately in the first half we created a few chances and Bas and Charlie put those away, otherwise it would have been a struggle to beat one of the worst teams I've seen in a long time (and thats saying something really). Hereford were awful and there for the taking. 2-0 up at half time we should have kicked on and boosted the goal difference. If it goes down to that in May then we'll regret today's missed opportunity.

Second half, did Tranmere turn up? No urgency, no good passing, terrible decision making and we were all over the shop. It was terrible to watch, the players left themselves in the dressing room at half time and Ronnie just watched it all. One of the worst Tranmere performances in that 2nd 45mins that I've seen for a while. A really important win, but I left the ground feeling dejected after such a poor display in the 2nd half.

 

[Ian]

It's crazy really. Leeds lost, we won, just what we wanted, yet we leave the ground feeling like we've lost. Like a few of us said after the last game, we'll take scrappy 1-0 wins as long as we get the points.

However, there was a lot wrong with our second half performance, in fact, it all started as soon as we had scored the second goal and sat back but like NBDH says, I'm really annoyed with Goodison. What a stupid tackle to make.

In what is now our three most important games of the season, we are missing one of our most inportant players through stupidity. With the patheticly low number of 5945 supporters sitting in horror at the realisation of what he'd done. Never known the place to be so quiet after the ref produced the red.

Trying very hard not to get too carried away, but I'd say that may have actually blown our chances.

 

[Boz]

Goodison rode his luck last Sunday and kept taking risks despite getting away with a blatant handball. Hereford were a weak side, lacking in confidence, but if the ref had got that decision right, I suspect that we would have had a lot more to moan about. Instead thanks to an excellent Barnett goal we doubled the lead. 2nd half Goodison & Kay in particular were far too casual. The red card challenge was unnecessary, but I'm not as certain as the rest of you it was a nailed on red, the ball was loose and Goodison won some of it before making contact with their man, who was also going for the ball. The 2 footer, studs showing didn't help, mind. Thereafter, Kay filled in at the back, but Ronnie didn't change anything else. Think we defended too deep and the joke penalty was almost inevitable. Don't know if fresh legs would have helped. Eg Curran for Moore/Cresswell for Barnett for the players fading most. Still, we won, remain in with a chance of the play-offs and I duly bought a Leeds ticket. Gullible or what?!

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Yesterday was a deliberate plan by Rovers management at half-time to lower expectations. Imagine if we'd come out second half all guns blazin', won 5-0, no yellows, reds or injuries.... Imagine the optimism? Imagine the hype? Oh dear, imagine the disappointment if we'd have lost to Leeds then?

This way we have no expectations of anything other than getting a pumpin' on Saturday and finishing 10th in the league.

And guess what? We'll probably win and go up at Wembley!

"Ronnie Moore, football genius! Ronnie Moore, football genius!"

 

[Ian]

That cheered me up

 

[SonkORLY?]

Agree entirely with the sentiments expressed above. Kay and Goodison were both woeful, the former is very very overrated. In a sense, Goodi being suspended for a while might do us a favour as, bar Leicester, his performences have been pretty woeful over the past few months. I'd much rather see Kay center-half than center-midfield, but this leaves us probably having to play the rest of the season with Edds alongside Jenno in the middle. Oh dear.

Hereford were quite psosibly the single worst team I've seen in this league since we've been here. I would also add that Andy Taylor had a particulaly bad game.

 

[Ian]

It was a shame Cresswell didnt keep his place. Think he's done a good job over the last few games. Noticed at Walsall, his defending was good, but distribution was poor. Taylor's form has been average lately.

Goodison has been a little bit sluggish in the last few games but his presence is still greater than any defender we have. We simply aren't the same team without him. I dont think playing Kay at centre back is a good move. Hes a much better midfielder who has got us 11 goals this season. Joint top scorer with Moore!

Jennings and Kay are the best central midfielders we have. I'm more concerned about players such as Sonko who has done little to nothing this season but dont seem to attract as much criticism as Kay for example who's been excellent this season.

And Bas for all his hard work still needs to chip in with more goals..

 

[SonkORLY?]

Goodison has been a little bit sluggish in the last few games

That's a bit of an understatement...

IMO Kay isn't one of our best 2 central midfielders - Jenno and Barnett for me! In the absence of Goodi I'd be more than happy to chuck Kay in at center half and play:

..........................Coyne
Taylor..........Chorley.....Kay.......Shotton
Cresswell....Barnett.....Jenno....Sonko
...............Moore............Savage

Or, if Kay must remain in the middle:

..........................Coyne
Cresswell..........Chorley.....Shotton.......Edds
Barnett....Kay.....Jenno....Sonko
...............Moore............Savage




As long as Edds is nowhere near center midfield I'm happy enough given the circumstances.

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

I disagree with SonkORLY over Edds, I think he's a standard workhorse type player, nothing flashy but what you expect to get, you get. He's pretty much the kind of player you need in such a small squad, can play 3 positions to an average sort of level. For me, his best position is right back.

Also disagree some over Antony Kay. He has been immense for us this season, deserves to be the team captain and has turned games in our favour at both ends of the pitch. Against Hereford, yes Kay's distribution was poor, but some of the running in midfield and the interceptions he'd pulled off that led to him having the ball in the first place were top notch, so I can't see much to criticise there.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I disagree with SonkORLY over Edds, I think he's a standard workhorse type player, nothing flashy but what you expect to get, you get.

He's not even that. He's incredibly slow and can't get involved. When playing in a central midfield position the game absolutely passes him by, he contributes nothing. Against Leeds, who have players with the quality of Delph and Kilkenny in central midfield, we can't really afford to have someone like Edds in such a vital area of the pitch. He'll get ripped to shreds. Agree with you that the bloke can do a job at right back, but would he be any better than Danny Holmes? I don't really see a need for Edds at the club, he can only play in 2 positions and is god-awful in one of them. I think he was at his level in L2, personally.

Also disagree some over Antony Kay. He has been immense for us this season, deserves to be the team captain and has turned games in our favour at both ends of the pitch. Against Hereford, yes Kay's distribution was poor, but some of the running in midfield and the interceptions he'd pulled off that led to him having the ball in the first place were top notch, so I can't see much to criticise there.

Kay's distribution is always awful, and he plays in a position where you can't really afford to be as poor on the ball as he is. His goal record this season has been superb, but his general play has failed to impress. He's a good leader, great in the air and seems to knows where the goal is - good qualities to have, but there's not much more to him than that. I strongly disagree with your suggestion that he reads the game well/makes good runs etc. He's a good player at this level, but wouldn't cut it in the Championship imo and I would disagree with the majority of our fans who think he's our best player etc. I reckon Jennings makes him look better than he is, as he did with McClaren.